Ali Dirie received a "Qur'an kit" with a message from Osama bin Laden while in jail and actively recruited inmates to adopt hardcore jihadist beliefs.

Ali Dirie is shown in 2003 at age 20 when he was part of a program to teach woodworking to young people with barriers to employment.

By:Bob MitchellStaff Reporter, Published on Thu Sep 24 2009

Ali Dirie received a "Qur'an kit" with a message from Osama bin Laden while in jail and actively recruited inmates to adopt hardcore jihadist beliefs.

Others among the so-called Toronto 18 terrorist cell expected the 26-year-old to take a key role in their pending violent acts in Canada, and to supply firepower for those acts once he was out of jail after his gun-smuggling convictions.

For those reasons and his admitted role in the homegrown terror group, Dirie deserves a seven-year prison sentence, federal Crown prosecutor Clyde Bond and defence lawyer Robert Nuttall told a Brampton court yesterday in a joint submission.

With credit for time already served, Dirie may have to spend only two more years behind bars – or no more time at all – when Justice Bruce Durno sentences him Oct. 2.

Dirie pleaded guilty on Monday to being a member and participating in the activities of a terrorist group, admitting he planned to cause "death and serious harm," with the intent of intimidating the Canadian public.

He was viewed as one of the group's leaders, according to a series of secretly recorded jailhouse conversations.

Bits and pieces of the intercepted calls were read into the record by Bond as part of a 28-page agreed statement of facts.

In several of them, another alleged leader referred to Dirie as being in charge and discussed how others in the group were looking forward to his release from jail. It's clear he was being counted on to supply guns and ammunition for the operation.

Dirie was described as "a major asset to the circle" in a March 2006 conversation.

In another taped call, Dirie said he was "ready to take orders now," but the person on the other end of the phone reminded him: "You're the one running it, all right."

Dirie and the other man, whose identity remains under a court-ordered publication ban, used code words such as "wives" and "girls" and "black chicks" for firearms, and "food" for ammunition.

Although specific details such as terrorism targets weren't revealed in these conversations, the calls formed the basis of the Crown's case against Dirie and prompted his guilty plea, the court was told.

Regardless of whether Dirie was, in fact, taking over the operation, Bond said it was clear he intended to play a role once he was released on parole in May 2006, after serving time on his August 2005 conviction for smuggling guns from the United States.

Bond, who is seeking at least another two years in prison for Dirie, said he had continued to foster terrorism behind bars by trying to recruit other inmates to his extremist views. Dirie admitted to such recruitment.

Nuttall urged Durno to release his client next week, saying he had changed.

"He passionately opposes what is happening in Afghanistan, but he's matured and realizes violence is not an answer," Nuttall told the court.

Dirie has spent 910 days in pre-trial custody, including 753 days in segregation.

The terror plot first surfaced in 2005, when Dirie and another man were stopped at the Canada-U.S. border in a rented vehicle while attempting to smuggle firearms and ammunition into the country.

Officers found two loaded handguns on Dirie and bullets in his socks, court heard.

He was already locked up when the cell members went to an alleged terrorist training camp in December 2005 and was still there when the terrorism charges were laid in June 2006.

In jail, Dirie received a package of books and CDs dubbed a "Qur'an kit," which contained hidden violent videos of attacks and bombings of military personnel.

One, titled "Return of the Crusaders," featured scenes of injured women and children in Iraq and mosque bombings. It included a clip of Osama bin Laden calling for terrorist attacks.

Dirie had remained in contact with others alleged to be part of the group, many of them awaiting trial.

Dirie is the second person to plead guilty to plotting terrorist attacks. Saad Khalid pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 14 years in prison three weeks ago. Nishanthan Yogakrishnan was found guilty last September.

Eight more await trial, their names subject to a publication ban in connection with Dirie's plea.

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